Abbott Labs Worker’s Wrongful Termination Suit Fails on Appeal

An ex- Abbott Laboratories Inc. subsidiary sales manager is bound by Minnesota law and doesn’t qualify as an employee to sue under the state’s whistleblower statute, a federal appeals court said Thursday.

Krishnan Ghosh was only in training when he was fired, not an employee who “performs services for hire” under the Minnesota Whistleblower Act, and doesn’t satisfy the law’s ongoing physical presence requirement, Judge James B. Loken said in an opinion. The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruling affirmed the lower court’s grant of dismissal to Abbott and Cardiovascular Systems Inc.

Ghosh’s physical presence in ...